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My Father passed away in January this year and had previously changed his phone line etc. to TalkTalk. On behalf of my mother I tried to contact them on the 16th February to advise them of the change in circumstances. I was cut off 5 times whilst trying to get through and I finally gave up.
I tried again on the 17th and I eventually got through to a male and slowly explained that I was calling on behalf of my mother to advise of my fathers death whose name the telephone contract was in. I gave him my name when asked and was then informed that due to data protection laws he couldn't speak with me and would only speak with the account holder (my late father). Again I explained that it wasn't possible but the operator at the call centre just kept repeating "Yes I can only speak with your father, he is the account holder." This continued for some time and I just couldn't convince the fellow that this wasn't going to be possible unless he had a medium to hand.
Eventually I became rather annoyed and distressed so asked to speak with his supervisor. When put through to the supervisor I asked if he had been advised fully of the circumstances, to which he replied "Yes, but he had to support his colleague in that they could only speak with the account holder due to data protection." At this point I pointed out that his colleague obviously hadn't explained the situation very well, because if he had, then as I would like the account holder to speak with them, it was just impossible!
On that note he then said he would put some paperwork in the post (allow 7 days) to change the contract into my mothers name! My response was, "You do that, but I would then allow the paperwork another 7 days to return because my mother will not want to have the contract. It will be notification that we no longer wish your services as the contract was with my father who is now DEAD." This appeared to be something they just didn't seem able to comprehend!
The contract is now null and void. I allowed for the last payment of direct debit to go from the account and then closed it. In the meantime notifying BT we were so happy to rejoin them and that everything has now been set up for them to take over the phone line and contract this week. But just to put the tin hat on it TalkTalk sent my DECEASED father a letter last Friday suggesting that he set up a direct debit for his phone line to prevent him incurring any late payment charges! So nearly a month on they still haven't been able to comprehend that he has passed away and to this date we have still not received the paperwork that they were sending out!
I think its time TalkTalk... began to talk talk to each other!!!!
By: furious female
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No chance of that so today after receiving another bill I went on their online chat room... I explained that the account was in my mother's name even though she died Nov 2015... (apparently my dad had the same issues trying to explain that)
I said I wanted to cancel the contract as my father had recently died... They went onto ask me for my mother's memorable word and password??? I said how the heck would I know... She's dead!
They said they could not access the account to close it without these details! I said if there were no NOK what would you do?
They went onto say I could put the account In my name and pay the balance then close it.
However they still needed the password to get into the account... I said send the bill to my solicitor but I will Not pay anymore than stated in today's bill.
Insensitive - and dam right stupid!
Infuriated is an understatement!
No customer service.. No understanding or compassion.
You never need to endure ONE sleepless night due to this type of criminal (and it is criminal) behaviour. Their methods need to be hidden from you because they know they are doing dark, sinister things - and we all know that secrets are seldom in the cause of goodness and light. So when you know your rights and how much power you actually have, it is their turn to be caught back-footed.
If possible, buy a recorder for your phone (electronics websites have these. They are quite expensive, but offset against the peace of mind they can bring you, the cost will soon be forgotten) and tape EVERY CALL from corporations, importantly TELLING them at the beginning of the call that recording is in progress. This will make them a lot more careful about what they promise and will back you up when (there's almost always a 'when' with some companies) there's a problem caused by their lies. Things have changed tremendously from times gone by when there was a certain amount of implied trust between companies and their customers. Now they are after just one thing: Profit. And they will do anything to get the most they can, irrespective of decent human values - they have none.
Therefore you have to protect yourself from the outset, no matter how nice 'Sally from Customer Relations' sounded. She may be great, but she has to do what her bosses tell her and they are quite possibly sociopathic, promoted to this position BECAUSE they have no decent values and care about no one except themselves. Treat each company always with quiet politeness (never lose your temper, that's what they want) but also with a complete awareness that at some point their hellish drive for profit will, to them, ALWAYS outweigh your needs, wants and rights.
Surviving nowadays is about knowing your rights and using these rights to their maximum.
Just remeber to keep that email/letter FFS
I Phone the 'Customer care department' about a replacement top-box going wrong within hours of being fitted and the female answers with "Oh yea, the engineer gave you a reconditioned box" "it's down to him"! So you are saying its not Talk talk fault the box went wrong? "Yea, he gave you a dud box". So the fact the replacement box was boxed up and in a sealed box, its still his fault? "ah yea". Can I speak to your supervisor? Big sigh and slams phone down! Great customer service.
As for my orgininal issue, guess what once again the scheduled engineer has failed to turn up!
Oh and just to add to the joke that is Talk Talk, their Customer Service manager phoned me on the day the box was replaced and promiced to phone back the next night to see if things were better. Guess what? Dam you guess.. He never phoned... What a suprise.. NOT!
Talk Talk, how is it you are only the second most complained about company in Great Britain? Surely you should be first!!!
Kathy